BUCKS COUNTY, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — The mail-in ballot request deadline in Bucks County has been extended after the Trump campaign sued, arguing the county broke the law by turning away voters who wanted a mail-in ballot.
The suit, filed by lawyers representing Donald Trump and Republican Senate candidate David McCormick, asked the courts to extend the mail-in ballot request deadline in Bucks County. It argued that Bucks County officials violated the law by turning away people who were in line at voter services offices before Tuesday’s 5 p.m. deadline — including some who had waited for hours — without allowing them to apply for a mail-in ballot.
A judge agreed and is ordering Bucks County to allow anyone to come into voter services offices to request and fill out a mail-in ballot until 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 1.
The judge clarified the order on Thursday. Bucks County officials asked to close the satellite offices to move printers and personnel to Doylestown to centralize and expedite the process. However, the judge said the county must keep the satellite offices open and anyone in line before the offices close must be allowed to request and fill in a ballot.
In the filing asking for clarification, Bucks County said it may be too late to update roll books at polling places. If the county cannot update those roll books, they will keep mail-in ballots from applications processed between the original deadline on Tuesday and the new deadline on Friday separate to ensure no one votes twice.
While anyone could have requested a mail-in ballot online before the Tuesday deadline, elections offices across Pennsylvania have seen hours-long lines of people looking to cast in-person, on-demand mail-in ballots for weeks.
Last week, Bucks County Commissioner Bob Harvie noted the long lines, saying political campaigns had been running advertisements and sending mailers urging supporters to vote early, but says Pennsylvania doesn’t have traditional early voting.
Harvie says Pennsylvania only has in-person, on-demand mail-in voting, which he calls “the most inefficient way of voting,” as it takes about 12 minutes per person because the office has to verify voter eligibility and print their specific ballot and return envelope.
Counties have been advising the state legislature that having the deadline to request a mail-in ballot just one week before election day could lead to problems.